“Are Paid Search Engine Optimization Tools Really Worth the Investment?”
Summary: Google’s free analytics is better than most of the PPC tools out there right now, and it is putting a lot of the companies that depended on this kind of software for revenue out of business. In this article we analyze the growing number of search engine optimization software tools and whether or not they really work for search engine optimization.
Google’s free analytics is better than most of the PPC tools out there right now, unless you are planning on shelling out $10k-$20k for an omniture or webtrends license. Plus Google analytics is free, and it is putting a lot of the companies that depended on this kind of software for revenue streams out of business. At Vision Media, we like using google analytics and appreciate the contribution they are making because it takes some of the load off of us because developing what they have is mucho dinero. Plus they’ve got so much cash, they just offer it for free as a marketing ploy because it keeps people coming back to them and they get to keep branding themselves. Plus, they’ll also support yahoo and msn ppc campaigns. At the same time, you better know how to run an effective PPC ad campaign or your going to end up throwing away a lot of money. We’ve had a few of our own expensive experiences. To make a PPC campaign work, it needs to be highly strategic and requires a good sense of strategic budgeting of marketing finances.
My business partner said something interesting in regards to this actually last night after viewing the website of a software that claimed to get you "Top 10 Search Engine Rankings". His words were “If 11 people in the same industry used this software- which gives the same results for keyword suggestions for example, and never analyzes the latest market trends and what the competition is doing, how can they guarantee top 10 results? Someone is going to lose...And that assumes that their software really is the best in the world and the 10 people in that one industry that use the software will all get top 10 results.”
Now, I spent the whole of probably 6 seconds on that website... As soon as I saw “we guarantee top 10 results in the search engines,” I closed the window faster than white on rice. I don’t bother looking into any company or product that makes such foolish and misleading claims, or shall we say “lies”, because that is really what they are. You see, the only thing smarter on the web than the search engine robots are people. Obviously, the reason for this is that the robots can only do what people tell them to. So really its a battle of human intelligence. If it were boxing, it may sound something like this: (classic boxing announcer’s voice) “In this corner, straight out of Palo Alto, California where the venture capital flows like water.... Coming to us from Stanford University where innovation rules, reciting algorithms in kindergarten is normal, and technological revolutions are fueled by all-nighters, Red Bull, and pizza... The OVER-ABUNDANT BRAIN TITAN! (loud cheering). And in this corner... Hailing from po-dunk, Nebraska... Where the cornfields flow endlessly, there’s a new get-rich quick scheme born every second, and it’s ok to be 15 years behind technologically... THE GET-RICH-QUICK SCAM OF THE CENTURY! (silence). LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!” The bottom line is, we must evaluate artificial intelligence by time, resources (usually number of developers), and cash flow. Google is now worth $80 billion+ and was originally founded with superior search engine algorithm technology- enough so, that it wiped out search engine companies that already seemingly owned the market and were already worth hundreds of millions and growing exponentially at the time (think Alta-Vista and Excite). Of course, there's a lot more to it it, and there were several reasons the early search engines went under, but after coming into the market and taking 75% of market share after 2 years like Google did, world domination didn't seem to far off. Point being, no one’s going to develop software to outsmart the robots, crawlers, spiders, or whatever other new term we coin to describe the same thing. SEO processes can be made easier, as our software does, but it cannot replace logical reasoning and healthy debate and collaboration by a group of tech-savvy and creative human beings. Perhaps the version after Web 2.0, or “Web 3.0”, will be the day that we develop a programming language that simulates superior human creativity... Of course, that will also be the day that “The system becomes self-aware” (think Terminator 3), and the next world war becomes Google Intelligence Vs. the planet. So in other words, it’ll probably be awhile. In my opinion, and the more I’ve been working with our new SEO team, the more I’ve become convinced that absolutely nothing could possibly replace the ability to analyze and predict the market, assess the competition and their strategies, factor in company disadvantages in the marketplace, and formulate tactical maneuvers, strategies, and educated guesses aimed at beating the competition, rather than the Google-bots. For example, with SEO software and the lack of true artificial creative intelligence, we can assume that you’re getting the same generic keyword suggestions as everyone else in your general industry. And while those may have been popular keywords suggestions when the software is released, the fact of the matter is that “related keyword suggestions” are often largely based on the author’s opinion, not on a keen evaluation of the meta data on competitor sites whose sales are off the charts, combined with consumer research and your own personal logical reasoning. As I’ve been working with one of our gurus on our own site and listening to the things that he says, I am thoroughly convinced that there is no match for what true search engine optimization by intelligent human beings can do for a website. The world of the “Next Net” will undoubtedly be dominated by socially accepted, value-added, service-based websites that understand and are willing to invest money into search engine optimization done by human beings that are not relying on software to replace logic. The companies that spend the extra money to go with professionals with a proven track record will also largely define the difference. I’m also convinced that the good SEO guys are incredibly intelligent, mostly because they spend hours upon hours everyday reading articles and following trends and are usually very connected and know about changes in search engine algorithms despite the fact that there is rarely announcements made about these changes since they have to fight off the “black hat” optimization companies that are foolish enough to think that they can “trick” the search engines. Before founding Vision Media, I spent time as an SEO project manager for a conglomerate of companies that sold nutritional supplements on the web, worth tens of millions and growing rapidly. I had the opportunity to personally work with several companies who are now our competitors. Talk about competitive research! I also did a lot of research on SEO companies to select the ones we would work with on this project, which had a budget upwards of $100,000 just for SEO. What I learned was that about 30% of these companies are phonies, and 80% are by no means “experts”... The reason I say this is because about 80% do the same thing and follow the same process with every site, assuming that one formula will work for all websites. No two websites are exactly the same, and I guarantee that the same exact strategy will not be useful to any other website, even if it is a direct competitor. For example, if a strategy is implemented that mirrors that of a direct competitor that has “top 10 search engine rankings”, how will that website address the fact that the competitor has the advantage of seniority? If the two strategies mirror each other, then said website could never possibly achieve a higher rank than the competitor for the simple fact that the competitor will always have the one advantage of having been on the web and in the top 10 for a longer period of time. This emphasizes the point with software programs. If a software program actually could get a website into the top 10 on its own, then the very next web developer to use it in that category could never physically achieve a higher ranking than its predecessor for the simple fact that they weren’t there first. In conclusion, there are obviously many reasons why software just isn’t relevant when it comes to effective search engine optimization. Web analytics programs on the other hand, are incredibly valuable, and many of them compile website statistics so that they are easy to understand. With the exception of Omniture and Webtrends, we favor Google Analytics for much of our Pay-per-click marketing and site statistics tracking for our clients, and it works out very well for them. After all, if we weren’t getting results with Google Analytics, we wouldn’t continue using it because we’d be losing business. It’s a very cost-effective solution, but it should also be used in tandem with built in web analytics software if your shopping cart or content management system offers one. At the same time, something I always tell people is: “Data is useless without good data comprehension”. In other words, the one thing these programs can not, and will not possibly be able to do for a very long time, is take that data and use it to form logical theories, hypotheses, forecasts and predictions, tactical strategies, and competitive maneuvers. That is usually best left to the experts that have knowledge, experience, and education doing this kind of work if you really want to see substantial results. Most people look at the data to track the past, not necessarily to predict the future and re-evaluate their strategies and tactics. Furthermore, many go straight from the finalized website to strategy implementation without having a strategy. They are essentially “winging it”, moving from one idea to the next idea for optimization, which is often based on some idea a buddy came up with or they heard on the web to "trick" the search engines. They never have a “point B” to work toward. These are the things you don’t want to do if you want positive results. Our website (www.vizmarketing.com) includes a lot more information on this topic, and there are a lot of blog sites discussing this topic as well. Remember that in the information age, the more you know, the more powerful you are. Dan Orlando
Co-founder and CIO
Vision Media Corporation
